The Role of Anxiety and Callous Unemotional Traits in Facial Emotion Recognition Deficits Among Children

Callous-Unemotional traits (CU-traits) refer to a distinct set of personality characteristics marked by lack of empathy and guilt as well as shallow affect. Facial emotion recognition (FER) deficits have been identified as an underlying feature in children with elevated CU traits. Child anxiety was also associated with FER anomalies. However, relationships between child anxiety or CU traits and FER are typically examined independently, even though they can cooccur. This study aims to concurrently investigate the unique roles of CU traits and anxiety in anomalous FER patterns among children. A sample of 101 children aged 6 to 11 with varying levels of CU traits were recruited from community settings. Primary caregivers reported on children's CU traits. A child self-report measure was administered to assess anxiety symptoms. Children's FER performance was assessed using a computer-based performance measurement. The moderation of CU - FER links by child anxiety was explored. CU traits were inversely related to total FER accuracy but only for children whose were self-reporting relatively high child anxiety. This study contributes to the understanding of relationships between CU traits, anxiety, and FER deficit in children. The findings shed light on the development of targeted interventions for children with CU traits, by considering anxiety symptoms in the link between CU traits and FER deficits. Keywords: Callous-Unemotional Traits, anxiety, facial emotion recognition, moderation.